My Life Without Alcohol and Menthol

IanM

IanM

Messages
4,630
I had been noticing that my face would sometimes become hot and tight hours after I had shaved. No all of the time, just sometimes, so I decided to investigate why this could be.

The 2 areas that I suspected, and noticed patterns that supported my suspicions, were alcohol and menthol. Given these suspicions, I adjusted (to the point of actually selling some) my product use, and tried only using creams without menthol, and splashes/balms that did not contain alcohol or menthol, but I have added the application of Witch Hazel (just the plain Boots stuff) to my post shave routine,

There has been a noticeable improvement in my post-shave comfort and the general condition of my skin later in the day.

So my post shave routine is now:

Warm Rinse
Pat face dry
Apply Witch Hazel (either like a splash or with a cotton-wool ball)
Cold Rinse
Pat face dry
Apply Nivea Sensitive asb

This order of application was taken from Mantic's 10 min shave video, except that he uses Skin Food and not the Nivea. Incidentally, Skin Food does contain some menthol.

What next? Well, I think I have to find out of it is both alcohol and menthol that irritate me, or whether it's one or the other. They're both closely related, so I suspect it may be both, but I'm going to try using a splash again over the next few days to see what happens.

Ian
 
Funny that you should post this today.

I haven't used an alcohol splash the past 2 days opting instead for just cold water and Simple ASB. My face has since been glowing hotter than the 'Pretentiousness at B&B' thread!

I love all things menthol, and so does my face.

So I'm back on the alcohol (in more ways than one :roll: ) tomorrow.

Maybe its just a particular product thing, Nivea ASB used to burn my face a little also.
 
I have tried both non and high alcohol stuff, I even tried a light moisturiser snd added a few drops of WH to it to cut it down. My face seems to prefer WH followed by a AS splash, if I have used a slightly drying soap then I will use some ASB or moisturiser.

What I found weird was that if I had a little bit of a shaving rash using an ASB makes it come out more and using just a splash calms it down. Stings when I put it on but I get a better result.
 
I guess these reactions just vary with the individual. Alcohol will almost inevtably cause an erruption of irritation for me, whilst menthol has little effect except to remind me that I don't like it. Yet another reminder (were it needed) that what works well for one shaver may not for another.

JohnnyO. :shave
 
Paul said:
Is it the menthol or the cooling effect. I have always preferred mint to menthol.
Click to expand...

Yet another probably bone question from me.......what is the difference between menthol and mint?
 
Menthol can be extracted from mint so there is some organic form of menthol in it.

Most menthol used in cosmetics is synthetic so more concentrated. I would be interested to know if mint is as bad for people who can't use menthol.

I have been informed by some that peppermint is good for people who don't like metholated products.
 
Menthol is one of many "active" constituents of mint, the plant.

Mint is either a plant used as a herb or a flavouring, a colour (generally green) or where coins are struck (as in "Llantrisant is the hole with the [Royal] Mint in it"), something brand new or if you're CherylKerl... something that could be otherwise described as "excellent".

edit: Beaten to it. Rats!
 
AJP said:
Paul said:
Is it the menthol or the cooling effect. I have always preferred mint to menthol.
Click to expand...

Yet another probably bone question from me.......what is the difference between menthol and mint?
Click to expand...

Menthol is a chemical compound found within mint. So mint oil contains menthol (along with lots of other things), albeit in lower amounts.
 
As a plug for Paul I have Connaughts Spearmint luxury Shaving Cream and find it gives a wonderful cooling effect in a similar way to menthol so you may want to try that instead of menthol......
 
I think skin type has a lot to do with it.

My skin is oily and I generally find that alum followed an alcohol splash works well but many find it drying. If I use a balm then by the end of the day my skin is greasier.

The only menthol product I have tried is RSC menthol shaving cream but that's not very mentholly, however I've used a fair bit of spearmint leaves in my herby rum homebrew aftershave and that seems fine.
 
Use a cream after shaving then a little later apply the splash. I found skin food is not very good as an after shave and that it works best as a pre shave, But I found Proraso as a pre shave is too cooling you don't want that at the beginning of a shave but at the end after the cold rinse and then alum block then cold rinse again pat dry and apply Proraso cream works well for me but if I use it at the begining of a shave I will get irritation because I think it reacts with the shaving cream.

Sometimes just playing about with the order that you put stuff on your face can make big improvements to the shave.

Although putting on shaving cream at the end of a shave will hide the cuts and burn!!!! :lol: :lol: ;)
 
Interesting replies.

I also suspect that varying atmospheric conditions can also effect the outcome of using different aftershave products, especially humidity.

Ian
 
Since i started using alum, years ago, i have not had a single post shave issue whichever product(s) i use. I think it sets the skin up perfectly for AS or ASB's.
 
Alum and I don't get on, so while I appreciate the suggestion, I will not be trying alum again in the foreseeable fture.

I used Tabac splash yesterday. Skin went tight but not hot.

Today I used NO a/s at all.

Ian
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom